USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 33
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 33
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267
CITY OF LITCHFIELD.
Hood & Bro., and Dr. Grinsted, had drug stores, the first adjoining O'Bannon's store on the north, and the second in the building now occupied by G. B. Litchfield as a restau- rant. Bagby & Corrington had succeeded Mc Williams & R. N. Paden in the State Street store south of the public square. O'Bannon & Elliott and Palmer & Jefferies, in their own buildings, continued to sell dry goods and clothing ; and Henderson, Hull & Hawkins had a store across the street south of Woodman's lumber-yard. Til. Shore sold stoves and hardware in the Harris Building, below Brewer & Grubb's Bank, which he had erected in 1855; E. E. Litchfield was in the same line on his corner; James Cummings & Son were merchants in the Cummings Build- ing, opposite the Central Hotel; John Mc- Ginnis sold clothing and groceries where Ju- lius Machler's saloon now is. John P. Bay- less had succeeded James Cummings in the post office, which was in O'Bannon's store. There was one saloon open a part of the time where Peter Kane dispensed, and B. C. Beards- ly had begun business in Litchfield's store. There were two physicians, Hood and Grinsted, but no lawyer; one schoolmaster, and no resi- dent preacher.
When the railroad was opened as far east as Litchfield, John P. Bayless was appointed the first agent, and his office was among the foundation timbers of the water tank, which stood near the southwest corner of the car works office, while a sister tank stood about on the site of the present one. R. E. Barton was the painter and photographer; John P. Davis & Brothers, the plasterers ; William Downey, the brick-layer. Farrar & Sinclair had the livery stable where Griswold's stable is. P. J. Weipert made and sold horse fur- niture, and C. Hoog made boots and shoes, and J. W. Cassiday was the one sufficient tailor. Mr. Johnson and his sons, with saws
and bucks, cut the fuel for the locomotives. G. W. Nelson-" Fiddler George"-was the Constable, and L. D. Palmer, the Justice of the Peace. J. L. Hood sold furniture in the Cummings' building for Olcott & Co., of Alton ; and W. B. Charles-" Captain Charles" -- in his old age had deserted the river steamer, and had a little stock of cloth- ing in the same building. Carpenters were counted by the score, and their wages were high.
The population had, by 1857, risen to six or seven hundred. The earliest residents were chiefly from the slave states, Kentucky or North Carolina. Messrs. Appleton, Grin- sted, and Mr. Long, his assistant, and a Mr. Thomas, were of English birth. Messrs. Hoog and Weipert were Germans. A few came from Ohio, and there was a liberal in- fusion of persons from the State of New York, and the Irish brogue was heard con- stantly.
The spring of 1857 opened late with rain and cold. The streets were gorged by the depth of black, unctions, tenacious mud. Sidewalks there were none. The second block east of State street was a shallow pond, much visited in the season by water fowl. Drains, and sewers were unknown, and the rainfalls skulked and dodged through grass and rubbish to the heads of the water chan- nels which begin half a mile or more distant. A few dwellings boasted more than two rooms. The people stayed here, comforting themselves with hopes of improved futures and release from narrow surroundings. The railroad had been opened to Terre Haute the previous year. Edwin C. Dix had succeeded Mr. Bayless as station agent. And occasion- ally some merchant would tell that he had, the previous year, shipped several car-loads of grain in sacks to St. Louis. The nom- inal village organization was kept up, E. C.
268
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Dix being its President. Some ordinances were adopted, but not enforced. The town was the common fighting ground for the sur- rounding county. A group of bullies would ride into town, fire their courage with whisky, if they could get it, and then gallop through the streets, shouting and carrying clubs or weapons, seeking a fight. On such occasions, "Old Shake," foreseeing their purpose, would usually lock his door, and disappear for the day, under the pretense of hunting or fishing, though a thinner excuse than fishing could not be imagined.
The first circus tent spread here drew not less than five thousand persons to town, peo- ple coming as much as forty miles to witness the moral horsemanship, and be astonished at the wit of the clown, and admire the frisky mules. Still the religious impressions of the performances in the ring have not yet been observed, or, if so, have failed of a chron- icler, though the town is not wholly ignorant of preachers who thought the noblest passage in the Bible was Job's description of a horse. There have been circuses here since, but not to arouse the excitement of that first one, and men are said to have gone fishing, but no one with so good a purpose as "Old Shake," or equally commendable results. The most noticeable effect observed has been the repu- tation of the fishermen for accuracy of state- ment. Had the fish been bigger, their repu- tation would have acquired the rudiments of a moral quality.
At length-it was in 1855-the domination of bullydom came to inglorious grief. Bullies had paraded the town nearly the entire day putting quiet citizens to great fear of per- sonal violence. At last one of the gang stood up a citizen against Palmer's store and cursed him with Satanic eloquence and energy. Ile hoped to tempt him to some act of resistance. A crisis was imminent, when a preacher of the
Christian Church, just risen from a sick bed, came down the street. He comprehended the situation and said it was time to push things. A local preacher of the Methodist's coincided, and, saying he had in his store a basket of fine savory eggs well matured for use in such a case, brought them forward. The eggs were thrown at the bully with malignant precision, the missiles as they crushed on his face and against his person emitted a pungent odor. It was afterward thought the eggs were addled ; no one knew ; there were none left to experiment with. The gang fled, but the crowd, in antici- pation of this had taken possession of a pile of spalls at the railroad crossing, and as the odor- ous bully and his confederate came up a volley of stones was hurled at them with convincing effect. He never recovered from his injuries, but died a few years later of consumption. One other event completed the subjugation of the rowdy element. In 1867, the same element proposed to " run " the town for a day ; the plan -a rough one-prospered until evening ; when the shopmen were going home to supper, the opportunity was too rich for county blood ; a demonstration was made on a workman, and incontinently, the aggressor, was the worst whipped man in Central Illinois. The victory was complete, the town had conquered a peace. Thenceforward there was amity between town and county rowdy, and no town of the State of equal population since that event shows a bet- ter record as to breaches of the peace.
Manufactures .- At the founding of the city the only manufactories of the neighborhood were a blacksmith shop at Hardinsburg, a tread-wheel carding machine near Wilson Mei- senheimer's, a steam saw-mill near Newton Street's, a second one near Judge Briggs' home, and perhaps a grain mill at Truitt's ford.
In 1854, James Macpherson, and William, his brother, bnilt a grain mill and residence on the site of the Planet Mill, and these were the first buildings south of the railroad, after the
269
CITY OF LITCHFIELD.
laying-out of the town. The mill would be called a humble affair to-day, but then it was ample for local wants. The next year R. H. Peall and J. M. McWilliams became the owners, and enlarged it and added expensive machinery. McWilliams dying in 1857, the mill, under the operation of law, fell into the hands of Ezra Tyler, who ran it with the aid of his sons until 1860, when he sold it to M. J. Gage. He at once put in a new engine and sets of buhrs, and other needed machinery, fully doubling its size and capacity. Practically, he made the mill a new one. He subsequently admitted his son to a partnership, and when he sold it, in 1866, he had paid his indebtedness and was the possessor of a moderate fortune. Best & Sparks, the purchasers, leased it first to E. A. Cooley and John Best, and then to A. W. Sam- son. While the latter was the lessee, the own- ers planned to replace the wooden structure by a briek mill. The main building was erected, when, in 1870, an evening fire destroyed the mill, and the project of replacing it was first deferred and finally abandoned. For ten years, at least, it was a flouring-mill, and shipped its goods to Eastern markets.
A second flouring-mill was completed in 1860, half a mile up State street, by John C. Reed and James Macpherson. In the spring of 1863, this, in an unknown manner, was also destroyed by fire. The attempt to connect its destruction with military and political troubles had no sufficient basis. Perhaps some card- playing youths knew more than they told. The mill was not rebnilt.
Wesley Best and David R. Sparks, from Staunton. completed a 300-barrel mill, on the railroad a quarter of a mile west of State street The mill was twice enlarged, and its goods achieved a flattering reputation. It, too, was burned, in February, 1879, and arrangements were made to rebuild it in 1881, but when the walls were fairly begun, the property was sold to D. L. Wing & Co., who demolished what had
been built, and the barren site is to-day the sole memorial of what was one of the best old style mills in Central Illinois. As long as it stood, the city maintained its pre-eminence as a local market for wheat, and its destruction was a general calamity.
Peter Boxberger, in 1868, built a flouring- mill on the railroad, a quarter of a mile east of State street. Three years later he sold it to Daniel MeLenan, in whose charge it was when destroyed by fire in 1873, bringing financial ruin to its owner. Abont this time, T. G. Kes- singer had a custom mill opposite Best & Sparks' mill, but it was not kept up long. In 1871, Mr. Boxberger changed the furniture factory of Whitaker & Rogers into a grist and flouring mill, and held it for two years, when L. G. Hicks and T. G. Kessinger obtained pos- session of it. They remained in control as long as possible. Whitaker & Rogers ultimately regained it by litigation, and the junior mem- ber of the firm still runs it. In 1873, Mr. Box- berger built the flouring-mill near the Indian- apolis & St. Louis depot. Becoming embar- rassed, he formed a partnership with Julius Machler, and the firm failed. The mill was sold, and for a year it was operated by L. Whit- aker, but in 1881 J. W. Thynne came into control, and it is now run under his manage- ment. All the mills used buhr stones, and completed the manufacture of flour in two grindings. Their capacity was limited, and un- til the opening of the coal mines and the intro- duction of water works, they struggled under formidable difficulties. But in the spring of 1881, Messrs. D. L. Wing & Co., of Springfield, Mass., began the erection of the Planet Mill, which by reason of its capacity and the new system of converting wheat into flour and the character and completeness of its appointments will bear a rapid description.
The mill building proper is 50x100 feet, and five stories high, exclusive of basement and texas. The basement contains shafting and main
270
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
driving pulley, elevators, fans and wheat sink. The main floor contains seven reduction mills for grinding middlings, and nine sets of smooth and corrugated rolls, fifteen purifiers, six bolt- ing chests and flour chests, packers and clean- ing machines. It may be of interest to know that flour-making consists of about thirty oper- ations. A barrel of flour is made every two minutes and a half. The motive power is given by a 300-horse-power engine. The grain elevator has a capacity of 100,000 bushels. There are six buildings belonging to the mill, and the out and the in business is equal to twelve car loads per day. Sixty-five men are employed. The cost of the mill was $200,000; W. N. Hewitt, Superintendent. The mill went into operation in November, 1881, and the wheat is nearly all obtained from the close neighborhood. The O. K. Mill was put in op- eration about 1873, and is owned by P'erley, Beach & Co. In 1881, Mr. Whitnall opened tile works on the east margin of the city. His wares are for the most part shipped to other counties.
The foundry and machine shop of H. H. Beach & Co. was built in 1857, and operated as a separate interest until 1876, when by sale they were consolidated with the car works. The original concern for years supplied the railroad repair shop with castings, and was largely engaged in the manufacture of engines and mill machinery. The concern worked an average of fifty men. The work is kept up by the new company.
As early as 1856 a planing-mill was running where is now Weigreffe's lumber yard. In a few years it was dismantled, and in 1867, Mr. Weigreffe built his sash, door and blind fac- tory, which was discontinued in 1876, and the machinery removed. L. Hoffman had a brew- ery where the coal shaft is, and finding the bus- iness ruinous abandoned it. J. E. Gay had a carriage factory, working twenty hands. He had no capital, and went into the bankrupt class.
The railroad shops were removed to Mattoon in 1870-71, and the spacious buildings stood tenantless and silent. Those who imagined that the permanent welfare of the city depended on retaining the shops, began to look for the signs of decay. The mystery of cause and effect, is insoluble, but as a sequence. the city's gift of $50,000 to the Decatur & East St. Louis Railroad was followed elosely by the removal of the shops, and when that decision was made public the population had sunk to the lowest point touched in twenty years. It was learned that the shops could be obtained on a long lease for a low sum. They could quickly and cheaply be turned into car works, and the seheme was elaborated to organize a stock company to build railway cars and coaches. Parties from the East offered to conduct the business if Litchfield would supply the capital. The proposal was deelined without thanks. In the winter of 1871-72, the company was formed and in May work was begun. A year later a fire from the cupola destroyed the foundry and machine shop. This portion of the works was rebuilt. In a few years the company's patron- izing roads were unable to meet their engage- ments and the company obtained an extension on its own paper, and at the appointed dates honored all its obligations. The company re- organized in 1877 with a diminished capital stock, but in effect with enlarged resources, and has been prosperous. Last year the pay-roll bore over 400 names, and the monthily pay sheet exceeded $19,000. The coal mine and the car works employed nearly six hundred and fifty men and the monthly wages were $30,000.
The influence of manufactures on population can be learned from a comparison of the census returns for a series of years, with the condition of our industrial enterprises. For 1870 and 1880, the Federal census is given; for the other years the school census is used :
271
CITY OF LITCHFIELD.
1869
4036
1875.
4160
In 1877 and 1878, the car works were re- suming business, and but few workmen were employed. The full consequences of the panic of 1873 had reached the climax. The fluctua- tions in the census accurately measures the ac- tivity in productive industries. In 1881, the population reached 5,250, and over a hundred dwellings were constructed.
We herewith give a statement of the busi- ness done in the Litchfield Post Office, during the past five years ending June 30, 1882 :
GROSS RECEIPTS.
July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1878 $3,266 88
July 1, 1828, to June 30, 1879. 3,496 41
July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1880 3,865 17
July 1, 1880, to June 30, 1881.
4,572 69
July 1, 1881, to Juue 30, 1882.
5,279 35
SALES OF DOMESTIC MONEY ORDERS.
July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1878 $2,117 00
July 1, 1878, to June 30, 1879. 2,303 00
July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1880. 2,683 00
July 1, 1880, to June 30, 1881 3,088 00
July 1, 1881, to June 30, 1882
3,301 00
The sales of international money orders during the past five years amount to $450, and there have been registered in the same period 2,057 letters and parcels, against 1,188 for the eight years previous to June 15, 1877.
. Perhaps the growth of local or city taxation for school and city purposes may bear on this question of manufactures and growth of the city. For 1859, the taxes given are for the levy of that year ; then until 1872, the taxes are the sum called for by the Collector's war- rant, which includes the yearly levy and all back takes. Until 1865, the City Council served without pay. Subsequently the members were paid:
Year.
Tax.
Year.
Tax.
1859.
$2,187 89
1 1867.
$19,098 94
1861.
1,511 93
1868.
23,307 23
1862.
1,531 59
1869
22,802 63
1863.
2,000 19
1870.
27,114 62
1864.
2,149 39
1871.
19,936 75
1865
11,547 91
1872.
18,457 29
1866.
18,146 53
The sum of $4,000 should be added to the figures for 1871-72 for interest on railroad bonds, which is collected as a part of the State tax.
Until 1873, the city taxes were levied on the assessment made by the City Assessor, and were collected by the City Collector. From that year the taxes for the city were levied by the State authorities in part, by the School Board in part, by the City Council in part, and in part by the citizens of North Litchfield and South Litchfield in town meeting. For five years the School Board and the City Council was the same body, but acting in two capaci- ties.
It appears proper to give a more detailed statement of local taxes from 1873 inclusive, representing only the amounts extended on the tax books, but having nothing to do with the amounts collected, and nothing to do with the expenditures of each year for current purposes.
Year.
Mayor. Assessments.
Local Taxes.
$9,447 98
1873. .. W. S. Palmer ....... $1,485,868.
Total $20,342 72
[ City
$14,646 70
School
15,602 29
1874. .S. M. Grubbs 12,239,894
City Bond
4,469 42
Total
$37,716 42
City
$14,439 18
School
10,436 74
1875. D. Davis 1,106,379
Bond
5,217 18
Total
$30,093 10
City
$11,157 20
School
5,157 47
1876.
D. Davis
833,859
Bond
5,487 89
Total ..
$21,802 56
City
$7,218 11
School
4,088 54
1877 W. Best
687,090.
Bond
4,765 13
1870.
3750
1876.
4135
1871.
3837
1871
3730
1872.
4989
1878
3685
1873,
4432
1879.
3959
1874.
4358
1880.
4343
Total $16,071 78
City School City Bond
7,500 00
3,394 74
272
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Year.
Mayor.
Assessments.
Local Taxes.
City
$5,358 74
School
3,534 14
1878
P. B. Updike.
588,169
Bond
4,707 09
Total
$13,599 97
City
$4,042 64
School
3,021 45
1879
.D. Davis.
429,958
₹ Bond ..
4,308 09
Total
$11,372 18
City
$3,514 88
School
4,025 20
1880
R. F. Bennett ......
394,235
Bond ..
3,158 17
Total
$10,698 25
City
$3,917 18
School
7,170 34
1881
E. Southward
433,927
Bond
3,650 26
Sinking Fund
2,259 70
Total
$16,997 48
During each year the city was in the re- ceipt of a revenue from miscellaneous sources of at least $6,000, which with the taxes col- lected represent the total yearly expenditure for city purposes. The era of high taxes rep- resents the years of building the new school- house, and the quickly abandoned policy of pay- ing off floating and bonded indebtedness.
We make no attempt to explain the decrease in the assessed valuation of the city, nor the wonderful sums yearly spent under the ambig- uous heading of city expenses.
In April, 1857, the first number of the Litch field Journal appeared, of which a fuller account will be found in a subsequent chapter. In March, M. B. Savage, of Brooklyn, N. Y., ap- peared here to become a partner of E. E. Litchfield ; J. W. Haggart succeeded E. C. Dix. as railroad agent. J. L. Childs had, a few weeks earlier, become the successor of E. W. Litch- field in the lumber firm. Mathew Cyrus fol- lowed Mr. Paxson in the Montgomery house, and in May or June, H. W. Beach and D. C. Amsden arrived to begin the erection of a foundry and machine shop. This was made the terminal point of the division of the railroad, and work was begun on railroad machine shop. Messrs. O'Bannon, E. W. Litchfield and E. L. Dix opened a lumber yard where the Ballweg elevator stands. The railroad employes abounded, and railroad
talk drowned politics. Shore's steam saw-mill, on Rocky Branch, after sawing three cuts had settled down to permanent idleness, and the ruin of its owner. This year the railroad en- gine house, machine shop and blacksmith shop were built and supplied with machinery, and there was a sudden increase of population --- the families of mechanics and laborers in the shops. John S. Miller was the master mechanic. The road was not prosperous, only one freight train each way per day, and the train as low as three cars. Pay day was irregular and, with the panic which set in with tremendous severi- ty, and low wages, the profits of labor were scanty. O'Bannon and Litchfield's lumber yard was sold to Perley & Co., a firm consist- ing only of R. G. Perley. The year went out in gloom and various helps to discouragement. A second saloon had been opened, a billiard table set up, two more physicians had settled here, and a couple of lawyers had an office ; of these brief mention should be made, for they were conspicuous persons for a few years.
B. M. Munn, a young man, came here from Charleston. He was a man of untiring industry, a gentleman in dress, temper and manners, ambitious and hospitable. But he was poor and impatient to become rich. He borrowed money and his plans did not prosper. He lost public confidence, went out as a three month's man at the beginning of the war, and drifted to Cairo and ceased to be a member of the county bar.
He had hardly opened his office in the fall, when T. N. Marron, a native of Lewis County N. Y., in some way lounged into town, nearly or quite penniless, and with but an apology for personal baggage. He said he had during the summer been engaged in the survey of railroads in Iowa, and had failed to receive his pay. Mr. Munn tendered him a desk in his office, shared his slender purse with him, and sought to aid him in securing legal business. But Marron was a Bohemian lawyer and no student.
273
CITY OF LITCHFIELD.
He was, however, dignified and impressive in his manners, and soon was noted for the con- densed energy of his conversation. Though quick of resentments, he delighted in festive scenes and noise. Whatever his theory as to the adequacy of statute law and legal prece- dents as a good substitute for principles founded on Christian morals, he failed to win clients, and in the second year of the war he disap- peared, and was afterward seen in Cairo, where former acquaintances deemed it proper not to covet his society. His will acted in whirls and side currents, and he was as poor a friend to himself as he was to others. He was a man of impulses, jealous of others' success, ignobly poor, with tastes which a fortune alone could gratify ; he neglected the patient industry in- dispensible to a lawyer who would rise in his profession.
If the year ended in omeus of disaster, judged by the usual but fallacious standards adopted elsewhere, there was no time for despondency. The better wealth of the town lay in the character and temper of its people. Messrs. Hood & Fields, of Michigan, had built and ocenpied a grocery store on the lot immediately north of Litchfield's hardware store. Burr Rob- bins, of cireus fame, and his brother began a saloon on the next business lot, and the brother dying the property was bought by C. W. Ward, who enlarged the building and carried out the design of the original owners. In May, D. C. Amsden and family arrived from Wisconsin, and the next month was joined by 11. HI. Beach, his brother-in-law. Mr. Beach brought the en- gines and equipment for a machine shop and foundry, and running up a huge barn-like structure, put the furnace in blast two months afterward, and then as resident partner and manager of the firm of Williams, Angel & Beach, entered upon a career of brilliant usefulness and prosperity as a mechanic and citizen. He was in the forenoon of life, and fully trained in practical mechanics and railroad work.
may have been worth a thousand dollars in his own right, but had a sound, healthy intelligence in his profession. Ile built his shops for the future, and then awaited the developments of business. He had the only foundry and ma- chine shop between Alton and Terre Haute. Soon after kindling his fires, the dread panie desolated the country, paralyzing enterprise, and bringing financial ruin to many, and hard- ship to all. For weeks Mr. Beach was on the brink of failure. Only by his popularity and personal influence could he get money to keep his shops open. The age of iron-the badge of power and industrial development-was about to dawn here, and its harbinger was the inevita- ble train of disaster which preceded the estab- lishment of a radical change in the methods and implements, and machines in the world of production and trade. The hour for an expe- dient had come. lle bought on credit a mill for corn meal, and placing it in the loft over his machine shop. Mr. Amsden to his other incongruous duties added the care of the mill. Corn was abundant and cheap, and meal was high. Each week a shipment to St. Louis brought in money to keep affairs in order, and by spring the crisis in his fortunes was fairly over. The year had tested men. Who- ever conld see the end from the beginning, could then have predicted the future of the town.
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